Hong Kong’s top civilian officials and whoever runs its police force are obviously reading from different scripts.
The Financial Secretary agonizes about renewed protests harming post-pandemic economic recovery as…
…fewer people patronise shops and restaurants because of gatherings and conflicts, or businesses have to pull down their shutters temporarily.
Fair point after months of semi-lockdown.
Meanwhile the police celebrate Mothers’ Day by going nuts in shopping malls (using social-distancing rules as a massively unconvincing pretext). A selection of clips from Twitter show the cops freaking out at CitySuper, pepper-spraying a food court, and apparently squabbling with one another. Among other mayhem, they assault lawmaker Roy Kwong, bully and manhandle assorted kids, line dozens of people up against walls, force reporters to kneel on the floor, and God knows what else.
The HK Police are no doubt stroppy after having a bad week, in which media exposed senior officers’ illicit property arrangements, a bunch of them were caught dealing in drugs (and not on a small scale), and they get a dead detainee on their hands, among other problems.
But the frenzied rampaging over people singing in malls at this time is probably part of a bigger strategy: Operation Just-Another-Thousand-Arrests-Will-Do-It Part 9. It looks like someone high up in the chain of command – Ministry of State Security, or new bosses at the HK & Macau Affairs or Liaison Office – is calculating, in their wisdom, that if the cops really ramp up the pepper-spraying and arresting, they can nip the post-pandemic resumption of anti-government sentiment and activity in the bud, oh yes.
I’m glad to see the popo are doing such a brilliant job of instilling intense hatred for themselves in the young generation, guaranteeing no decent human with an iota of education will want to join the “force” when they come of age and further guaranteeing the popo will have to actively recruit from the mainland (that’s if half the force isn’t already populated by late night border crossing Wu Jing members in civvies) and NT triad thugs.
‘bigger strategy’? You must be joking, Hemlock. We try this and we try that, and if that doesn’t work we try something else entirely. Of course, none of it works, because we are witless and dumb as shit. Why else do you think we joined the popo? Remember last year, on a sunny Sunday afternoon we fired teargas in front of Sogo with hardly any people around. We have no clue and certainly no strategy but we have to impress Chris Tang who has to impress John Lee (or other way round, nobody knows) and who has to impress new boss Luo. Can you blame an adventurous but frustrated Anti-Triad popo of running a side business, dealing meth?
The police’s actions in the shopping malls and streets on Mother’s Day is particularly bad when you consider that they didn’t go and break up the massive bar crowd on Peel Street on Friday night which surely broke more social distancing rules than any of yesterday’s protests (prior to the intervention of the police, that is). Also, if you can’t protest by chanting and singing (to a violin accompaniment too, in at least one instance)…
https://twitter.com/ezracheungtoto/status/1259432740253925381
I’d find it hilarious if it didn’t indicate such a massive disconnect from reality. Most people below the age of 25 haven’t a clue who Tung Chee-hua is, and most over that age regard him as an abject failure. Likewise, the young ones regard C.Y. Leung as “that guy who tried to introduce patriotic education while I was at school” and the elder of us shudder. And who does the United Front choose to spearhead the “Let’s-be-touchy-feely campaign” while using the law as a weapon and the police as a hammer….
‘Mother’s Day’ indeed. An entire herd of semi-literate mother-thuggers taking advantage of the fact that the local proxy administration won’t do anything to stop the abuses. Pepper ball jokes forthcoming.
Arresting a handful of idiots (such as the sergeant who casually walked into a crime scene holding narcotics and cash) won’t placate the majority in this city.
Funny to read the wumao posts on websites around the world! They’re working overtime to spread the Gospel of Xi even as Cheena’s reputation/soft-power seems to be ruined for at least a generation.
BTW: any news on the 81 year old DAB Uncle who stabbed Longhair Leung outside the liaison office?
I think we should go easy on the poor old pigs this week:
After all, you’d be clucking too if your meth supply had just been cut off.
Was officer Hui set up? Note that, while the force has exhibited a penchant for blocking views to interior of vehicles, he was driven to the court in an old style van with regular windows, no netting and other barriers. All the better to ensure that there are clear images on record.
Would that the originator of the meths indicates exactly how many kgs were involved so that there is a starting point on which to anchor the saga.
I’m waiting for the judge comments on that allegedly Meth dealing officer, surely he started this side hustle because the protests hit his revenue? Same excuse for Rupert and his little AirBnB operation
I can almost smell that “Provisional Legislature” and could probably make a good stab of it’s members. Could be space for a token “gwailo?” No David Aching Bones this time so how about Grenville Cross?
Chris Maden: Remember, the guy now in charge is best known for dismantling crosses on churches to make a point. The only touchy-feely these guys do is a gloved hand in your nethers.
Popo making this major drug bust too similar to the easy finds on weapons caches and amateur bomb labs. Maybe planted or pushed along to known dirty brothers they wanted to sacrifice anyway?
This is what happens when your credibility is kaput…anything you do is suspect and disbelieved.
Phila Siu, SCMP (12 May 2020): “Some protesters are disguising themselves as reporters, police say”
You don’t 4cking say. This has been going on for an age. I’d force every local journalist to have a police-issued press pass. Then, anyone within one MTR station of a riot who didn’t have theirs to hand would get a minimum of 5 years in the slammer. These so-called journos are simply their to block the cops. As a safety check, if they are real journos they’ll be able to show us their portfolios with some of their past outputs. In my view, Carrie Lam should go full blown General Pincohet and do a mass cull.
“I’m waiting for the judge comments…” Well there is a certain under-employed judge available.
Shame, I was rather hoping Reactor 4 had gone into meltdown.
@rectum4 – “…there to block…” -not their. And your fascist inclinations betrayed by your last line.
Rectum no. 4
Please explain why journalists should obtain press ID when (the majority of) the police do not display any identification?